Ventersdorp residents are pleading with the municipality for water services

For Extension 3 residents in Ventersdorp, water shortages have been an ongoing issue for over a decade. However, the issue is slowly starting to spread to other extensions and residents refuse to accept it. According to Welile Phokela, a concerned resident, the lack of water in Ward 29 has been a persistent issue despite the number of times they have reported the issue to the municipality.

“At first, residents could get water from running taps, but even then, it was a struggle. The water would only run at certain times, to the extent where residents would wake up in the early hours of the morning, hoping to get their buckets filled for the day,” Phokela explained.

According to residents, the issue has gotten so serious that the municipality had to resort to outsourcing trucks to deliver water across the location. However, the problem with this solution is that the trucks are often delayed and residents are left to struggle without water. “Our residents are struggling and living in unhealthy conditions due to the lack of water,” Phokela said.

More often than not, the entire extension 3 area is riddled with filth because residents cannot flush their toilets. “We cannot continue living like this,” Phokela said. “Since the beginning of this year, the issue has become much worse, leaving residents to survive for days without any water,” he added.

Another resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said it was unfair that the municipality was paying for trucks to render a service and yet they often spend days without this basic essential. “Has it come to this where we must beg the municipality for our livelihood?” he lamented.

Phokela added that the constant power outages made the issue worse as water cannot be pumped when there is no electricity. This affects schools and small businesses in the area. According to him, the overall state of service delivery, in general, is extremely poor in Ventersdorp and something needs to be done. The Herald asked the municipality for comment but received nothing by the time of going to print.